At least they'd picked a restaurant fairly close by, near Union Square. I could make an escape without having to hail a cab. As I walked to the restaurant, I noticed a gargoyle on top of a nearby building, and I'd never seen one there before. I didn't think it was Sam, though. This one had a different profile, more of a birdlike beak instead of Sam's grotesque humanlike face.
It was a chilly night, and a blast of hot air hit me in the face when I entered the restaurant. The place was already crowded, packed wall-to-wall with people waiting for a table. How was I supposed to find my date in this mob?
A tall, handsome man with wavy chestnut hair walked toward me. I automatically glanced behind me to see which supermodel he was approaching, but he looked me in the eye and said, "Katie Chandler?"
I gulped. Gemma didn't mess around when it came to looking for the One. "You're Keith?" I didn't mean it to sound like an incredulous question, but that's the way it came out. I never got set up with guys like this.
He gave me a smile that turned my insides to jelly and reached to shake my hand.
"Nice to meet you."
"Uh-huh" was all I was capable of saying.
He didn't notice my awkwardness, or if he did, he was gentleman enough to pretend not to notice. "Let's see if our table's ready," he said.
I followed him to the host's stand, then nearly tripped over my own feet when I noticed a party of fairies and sprites come in. Damn. Why couldn't I escape from magic for one night? I hoped it wasn't anyone I knew and that they'd leave us alone.
I wanted to make a good impression on this guy. Before I had a chance to see if I recognized anyone in the group, the host led us to our table.
Once the host was gone, Keith grinned at me. He had warm hazel eyes that lit up when he smiled. I could definitely imagine cuddling on the couch with him. "Gemma said you were cute, but I had no idea," he said.
I wondered if he meant cute as in attractive or cute as in "just like my little sister." I knew I was blushing, which probably increased the "like a little sister" impression.
"Gemma didn't tell me anything about you," I admitted.
"Then it's very brave of you to take a chance on me in the blindest of blind dates."
Me, taking a chance on him? He had to be kidding. He was also way too good to be true. Maybe Gemma had hired him to go out with me, but that would defeat the whole point of Project Boyfriend. She knew I didn't need dates just to have someone to go out with.
We discussed the menu for a few minutes. He didn't have any weird food quirks that he felt the need to mention. He wasn't on any wacky diet, and he didn't reject menu items because they contained some food he hated. After too many blind dates with men who reminded me of toddlers on food jags, that was refreshing. I just hoped the conversation held up after we ordered.
The waiter came to take our orders and took away our menus, and we were left to work without a net. "So, what do you do, Katie?" he asked. It was the obligatory first question on any date. I wasn't sure why, when most people claim to hate talking about work.
"I'm just a secretary. Nothing interesting." I'd decided the best way around that tricky job question was to make my job sound so uninteresting that no one would want to ask more questions about it. "What about you?" I hoped turning the tables quickly would help move the conversation away from any possibility of me having to skirt the magic issue.
It didn't work. I'd found a guy who actually wanted to talk about me. "What company do you work for?" he asked.
"It's a small company. I'm sure you wouldn't have heard of it."
"Try me."
"It's called MSI Inc."
"You're right. I haven't heard of it. What do they do?"
I wished I could remember the way Owen had described it in that first meeting, which seemed so very long ago. "Oh, it's some kind of services stuff," I said at last, playing airhead. "I just type memos and make coffee. I don't pay much attention to what we actually do."
As boring as I tried to make it sound, he didn't look like he was about to fall asleep.
If he wasn't truly interested, he was faking it well. For a moment I wanted to really wow him by telling him I was Merlin's assistant and I worked with wizards and magical people, but I had a feeling that would lead to the kind of commitment that involved padded cells rather than diamond rings. Ordinary Katie would have to do. I just hoped ordinary Katie would be enough.
As if to reinforce the weirdness of my life, the party of sprites and fairies walked past us on the way to their table and I recognized Ari. She winked at me as she passed. I forced my attention back to my date while I wondered how big a coincidence it was that one of my cowork-ers was at the same restaurant I was, especially given that Ari claimed not to like dating her own kind. Why did they have to pick this restaurant, tonight of all nights, the one time when I wanted to go back to at least looking normal again for a little while?